The Death of Tragedy
by LaylaDivasa
Summary: The story of Dissidia is turned on its side and spun around about five times. The enemy is not who everyone thinks he is, and old friends have come to join in on the fun... Includes characters from Crisis Core, FF8, FF10, FF X-2, FF 12, and a few OCs.
1. Preface

War is raging between the gods—the same war which has been fought for eons. Cosmos, Goddess of Harmony, and Chaos, God of Discord, each have twelve of their chosen warriors remaining. The gods know all too well that the time for the end of this round of warfare is naught…

However, the story here deviates from that which is recorded in _Dissidia: Final Fantasy_. Rather than their numbers being reduced to ten on each side long before Cosmos makes her decision, the end draws nearer much more rapidly. A quest for "the crystals", each of the twelve "warriors of harmony" seeking their own gem, is issued by Cosmos.

Her warriors obey, none stopping even to consider questioning the reason for her request.

What they—and even select members among Chaos' warriors—discover, however, may be something far more valuable than potentially world-saving crystals…


	2. One

_[As told by Cloud Strife]_

Cloud came to a stop, looking around for the others. Apparently, he was the first to arrive. Good—he could get some alone time. He preferred to be alone.

The Planet's Core was somehow still, his footsteps echoing around him. The black fabric of his sleeve brushed against his arm, the fabric falling over his leg scratching lightly over the ground. His echoing footsteps seemed to double. He wasn't alone.

Neither said a word, Squall and Cloud nodding in greeting. The silence continued, increasing as the two stood still, Cloud ceasing his pacing. Two sets of footsteps bounded over.

"Hey, guys!" Bartz called, he and Zidane running towards them. Of course, they were racing to be the first to arrive. Cloud wasn't surprised.

"Haha! I win!" Zidane smiled, turning on Bartz with a victorious little jump.

"Heh... heh..." Bartz was breathing heavily, smiling a bit sneakily. "You think... I didn't... let you... win...?"

"Yeah, right!" Zidane smirked triumphantly. The two burst out in laughter. At least someone was able to have a good time. Cloud and Squall remained on the periphery, each remaining a solemn statue.

"Cloud!" He turned at the shout; Firion, Cecil, and Tidus were running towards him. Five more people remained. Then, Cosmos herself.

"Hey, Cloud," Tidus smiled, that glimmer in his eyes which always appeared whenever he was about to try something to make the other blond smile. "You're going to love this!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow, highly doubtful of Tidus' ability to make him smile.

"That Shadow kid on Chaos' side," Tidus looked about ready to crack up himself, "totally owned my old man _and _Sephiroth!"

Cloud's expression did not change, mostly because he had no clue what Tidus was talking about.

"Seriously!?" Tidus' shoulders drooped in exasperated disappointment. "I just told you about Sephiroth getting owned by a kid and you don't even move a muscle!?" He let out an exasperated sigh. Cecil patted Tidus on the shoulder.

"Knowing you, you won't be giving up..." Firion smiled as Tidus looked up.

The clink of armor announced the arrival of the Warrior of Light.

"Greetings, all." He spoke with his typical commanding tone. "Good to see you are all alright."

Now, four remained.

Most of the group tried to break the tension by chatting, hanging out as if nothing was going on other than waiting on four friends to arrive. Cloud and Squall were the only two on the sidelines. Laughter swayed neither of the self-made "outcasts". Cloud knew Squall just well enough to know that he was trying to remain focused on the task at hand—the war they had been fighting for... Cloud had lost track of how long. As for himself, he didn't like to let on that he wasn't even certain of why he was there. He had nothing to fight for, unlike most—if not all—of the others. Firion had his dream, Tidus had to defeat his father, Balthier had his freedom... Cloud had nothing. Nothing at all.

"Hello, Cloud." He looked up; Terra was smiling at him from nearby.

"Hey, Terra," Cloud replied, a shadow of a smile on his face.

"Good to see you, Cloud." The Onion Knight—of course; that kid was always at Terra's side. Cloud nodded in greeting, returning to his silence.

And then there were two.

"Glad to see you all waited for me." Balthier—he could be insufferably annoying at times, but he really wasn't such a bad guy... so long as you kept an eye on any treasure or valuables you didn't want to see gone missing later...

One remained.

Conversation carried out amongst the others for some time, Cloud and Squall retaining their silent stillness. Cloud was starting to worry. Ravi still hadn't shown, nor was there any sign of Cosmos.

As they ran out of topics to discuss, the rest of the present eleven appeared to join in on his apprehensions.

"You think we should go looking for 'em?" Bartz looked around, apparently expecting answers out of everyone. There was no answer given.

"There is no need."

"Cosmos!" Nearly everyone spoke in unison, the eleven turning to face the goddess. Ravi was at her side.

And then there were none.


	3. Two

_[As told by Ravi Thanatos]_

Their numbers were reduced to twelve. Not including the Manikins, so had the numbers under Chaos. Fortunately, Shadow was still there—well, Ravi found it fortunate...

Ravi followed Cosmos down to where the others were waiting.

"Cosmos," the Warrior of Light spoke up, "if I may inquire, what is your reason for calling us together here?"

Cosmos paused-- it was almost as if she was uncertain over why she had decided to gather her warriors herself.

"You twelve… are all that remain…" She spoke slowly, obviously trying to phrase things carefully. "I am…" She took a deep breath. "I do not believe… I will be able to defeat Chaos… this time…" All twelve of her warriors stiffened, some giving her stunned looks, some too emotionless to do much more than stiffen—the names Cloud and Squall came to Ravi's mind. "You must find the light… which even in a broken world could not fade…" She looked each of her twelve warriors in the eyes. "The light of the crystals."

"Crystals…?" the Onion Knight muttered.

"These crystals embody the strength to face despair," Cosmos continued, her voice stronger. "The twelve gathered hold the hope of saving the world. Each of you must follow a different path to your own crystal—but all paths shall be dangerous."

The twelve nodded at her warning, though Terra did seem a bit nervous. Ravi put a hand on her shoulder, smiling comfortingly when she looked at him. She returned the expression, though her uncertainty still showed.

"You must believe in and follow your own path," the goddess seemed to have had a well-prepared speech ready for this. Well, part of one, at least. "Even if you know not where that path leads…" Tension picked up in a single heartbeat, Cosmos stumbling slightly. "Please… Let me rest… When you have each obtained your crystals, we can all reunite once more…"

The twelve warriors looked on as Cosmos vanished… She would be back when she was needed. That was one thing they could all count on.

"Well, I suppose we each go our separate ways…" Balthier mused.

There was a moment of silence, no one moving.

"Perhaps we should try to stay together, for as long as we can…" The Warrior of Light suggested. No one seemed to object, following him out of the Planet's Core.

Passing through Dream's End, a voice made everyone stop, Ravi spinning to face the speaker. He was half smiling.

"So, Crystals, huh…?" Shadow. He was sitting on the hilt of the giant stone sword in the center of everything.

"This is none of your concern, Dark One," the Warrior of Light replied before Ravi even had the chance to open his mouth.

Shadow shrugged. "Don't blame me for wanting to get away from Emperor's annoying ranting…"

Firion, somewhere behind Ravi, tried—and failed—to hold in a snicker.

"Shadow…"

"I guess I should get out of your hair… for now, at least…" What Shadow muttered in addition was almost undecipherable. "Until they make me come back…"

In all of two seconds, his best friend was gone.

Ravi, disheartened, turned to follow the others. He looked up at a hand on his shoulder, meeting Terra's eyes. She smiled, obviously trying to comfort him. He managed to return the gesture.

The twelve came full circle and then some, back into Kabaab Aljana. This "island temple" made Ravi feel nostalgic for some reason…

"Well, anyone? Anything?" The Warrior of Light looked at everyone. In response, all that he received was shaking heads.

"Maybe we really should just split up," Cloud spoke—surprise, surprise: his voice was completely monotone.

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me." Squall—he was a loner anyway. Anyone could see that.

Not everyone seemed to share their sentiments.

Ravi didn't care anymore. As long as he could find Shadow, he would be happy. It didn't matter that they were on opposite sides, Shadow was still his best friend—and that wasn't going to change any time soon.


	4. Three

_[As told by Terra Branford]_

A flash of red caught her eye. Terra turned, worried that the blood color meant that someone was hurt.

What she saw surprised and frightened her. She gasped.

"Terra?" The Onion Knight turned to her, stepping defensively in front of her as he saw it, too.

"What's going on?" Cloud. Soon, everyone was turned around, staring in stunned silence at the flowing crimson.

The color was the flowing hair of a girl, pulled sloppily back into a loose, low ponytail. A chill ran through Terra's spine as the girl opened her eyes, the nearly transparent blue less than ice and more than white. She stood, leaning against the side of an entryway, half-sideways from them.

"Who are you?" the commanding voice of the Warrior of Light demanded.

A small smirk crossed the girl's sangria lips.

"I assure you, I am in no way affiliated with your enemies…" A quick glance told Terra that none of the others believed the strange girl.

"You did not answer my question," the Warrior of Light stated. A small burst of laughter seemed to have escaped the girl.

"My name is Thorn," she replied, the smile on her face and laughter in her eyes melting away the cold Terra had felt earlier.

"What is your business here?" The Warrior of Light—all business.

The girl gave a little half-shrug, taking a step down the steps and forward, towards the group. "I'm looking for some people." The guys closest to her drew their weapons—Thorn was face to face with the buster sword—in one piece, the smaller blade still locked within the larger—, gunblade, Firion's javelin, and both Cecil and Tidus' blades. "Anyone ever told you not to shoot the messenger?"

The weapons lowered if only slightly. The tension was making Terra nervous.

"If you have a message," the Warrior of Light demanded, "tell us now."

The girl let out another little laugh, stopping a few steps from the group's level. "Well, this message is only for a few of you."

"Who?" The Warrior of Light made his demand almost before she had finished speaking. Terra moved a little closer to the Onion Knight, nervous.

"Um… One moment, please…" The girl pushed up the one black sleeve of the mini coat she had over the red sleeveless top. Her entire lower left arm was covered in scribbles.

"Is that the message?" Tidus asked, looking at the seemingly collective scrawl on the inside of her arm.

She pointed at it. "This?" He nodded. "Oh, no. This is the crab cake recipe I found on the way here. Awesome crab cakes." She smiled a bit before returning to her search of her own arm… Terra figured she wrote a lot of things she wanted to remember there. "Dance steps for 'Real Emotion'… Lyrics to 'Redemption'… Ah, here we go." She seemed to be looking at a series of short scrawls on the side of her arm. "Um… Tidus…?"

"That's me," Tidus said, lowering his weapon a bit more.

"Okay," Thorn smiled at him. "Next is… Squall…?"

Squall lowered his gunblade in response.

"Alright," she smiled again. "Um… Oh… Let's see if I'm right here… Cloud?"

He returned the buster sword to his back. Thorn let out a bit of a laugh.

"Just like he described…"

"Who described me how?" Cloud demanded, his typical monotone broken just barely.

"Let's just say a mutual friend said you would be the 'emo-looking blond'." Terra wasn't the only one trying to hold in laughter, although Tidus, Firion, and Cecil seemed to be having the hardest time of it. Cloud, as usual, was not amused, nor was he pleased. "Well, next up is… Ravi…?"

"That's me," Ravi rose a hand, coming up to stand next to Terra.

"Ah… No wonder she goes on and on about you like that…" Thorn smiled a bit. Obviously, even Ravi had no idea who she was talking about. "And, last but certainly not least… Oh…"

"Is there a problem?" the Warrior of light asked.

"Well, I'm not certain I can pronounce this one right…" Thorn frowned at the name written on her arm. "Although, she did give me something else to call him… "The leading man"?"

"Balthier," the sky pirate in question took a step forward, resting his gun over his shoulder.

"Ah, Balthier… Got it." Thorn smiled, pulling her sleeve back over her arm. "Well, the message I've got memorized. To put it simply, some friends of yours would like to see you. And I suggest you come along before the ladies decide to send me back to slap you in the face—or worse. I don't know how… militant some of the girls can get; not to the full extent, at least."

"Uh…" Tidus gave her a confused look—okay, most everyone gave her a confused look.

"Well, if you want to know what that's all about in more detail, I suggest you follow me." Thorn turned to leave. "Otherwise, I bid you farewell. _Au revoir_. _Sayonara_. _Adieu_."

She began to make her way out of the Kabaab Aljana. Surprisingly, Tidus, Balthier, Ravi, even Squall and Cloud all moved to follow her. And not only them—the Onion Knight began pulling Terra along. All twelve of Cosmos' warriors wanted to know what was going on. No man left behind—they were all closer than Terra might have thought.


	5. Four

_[As told by Tidus]_

_I was curious to say the least._

I chased after Thorn, a little ahead of everyone else. She came to a stop at the edge of a rough cliff, turning to smile almost sneakily at her twelve followers.

"Try and keep up," she challenged.

"Heh, try and stay ahead!" Granted, I may have been a little cocky when I said that. Of course, I was eating my words in no time.

With a little laugh, she jumped over the edge of the cliff. The twelve of us ran to the edge staring down in shock at her as she bolted down the edge of the cliff in ways that should have been impossible for a person to survive.

_Needless to say, I felt the need to give chase. I wasn't about to give up, after accepting the challenge!_

I jumped after her, finding a less outrageous way of reaching the base of the cliff. The other twelve had followed me, each taking a slightly different route over the almost stair-like cliff face. When we all reached the bottom, we bolted in the direction I had seen Thorn running off in.

_I was starting to worry that we had lost her._

_Instead, I found out what it feels like to have your heart stop—from the massive surge of adrenaline to suddenly stunned._

Thorn was waiting for us, standing at the edge of an empty rock field, a strange mist-like sea separating the "stepping-stones".

"What, take a couple of seconds to the 'deer-in-the-headlights' look?" I was kind of upset over her smirk. "Don't worry—you're not the first."

As the rest of the group caught up, Thorn started off again, leaping between the stepping-stones. Where she skipped multiple stones to travel at alarming distances, the rest of us took each stone in stride, none willing to test if the "mist-sea" would have them simply fall right through…

_I felt my heart racing faster and faster as we drew closer to our destination. I had no idea what was making me so excited, but… It was like I was going to see someone I hadn't seen in a long time, but had never wanted to be away from… like I was heading towards a meeting that I couldn't wait to have occur._

I nearly ran into Thorn where she had stopped at the top of a cliff. When I saw what was beyond, I had a real 'deer-in-the-headlights' look.

"Whoa…" A huge city lay in a valley beyond. The rest of the group seemed just as stunned as I was when they took in the view themselves. Ask any of us—no one thought there would have been a city here, especially after the war we had been waging… Actually, I couldn't remember there ever being any cities…

"Are you all ready to see your friends?" Thorn's question was obviously directed towards the five of us—the ones she had come for.

I nodded, followed by the others.

"Well, then, let's go." She jumped… again… She really liked jumping off of cliffs, didn't she?

_This was it. As I fell through the air, following Thorn, I felt my heart swell as if something amazing was coming. I felt drawn towards the city, towards the sound of… music…?_

Music. There really was music. Somehow, I recognized the voice singing… It sounded like someone I had been close to once, though I couldn't for the life of me remember who… The voice filled me with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia…


	6. Five

_[As told by Vincent Valentine]_

Crimson eyes flashed at the sight of sangria hair. Then the twelve followers… Twelve? Wasn't it supposed to be five?

It wasn't his role to worry over some detail like that. His role was to announce their arrival. He teleported over to the stage, materializing near the top of a skyscraper overlooking the concert below.

"_And if I find the world without emotion has surrounded me, and I can't go on,_

_You are there the moment that I close my eyes to comfort me._

_We are connected for all of time._" As she continued singing, he swooped down, his cloak swirling around him turning him into a virtual crimson blob. He swirled around her in time with her dance, whirling her long, wrapped ponytail along with him. She beamed, continuing until the end of the song to give the group time to reach the city. The cheer rising from everyone there was not just for her song—it was for the people coming to join them.

"_I'll never be—_

_And though I know the world with real emotion has surrounded me,_

_I won't give into it. Now I know that forward is the only way my heart can go._

_I hear your voice calling out to me._

_You'll never be alone._"

The other girls joined in for the ending, the dance made almost comedic for the brunette with the navy and white blue ruffles, the blonde in almost all yellow and orange, the lighter brunette in the light blue sundress with the pink bow in her hair, the darker brunette with the deep sky blue sleeveless long sweater… type… coat… thing… He wasn't good with clothes…

"_What can I do for you?_

_What can I do for you?_

_What can I do for you?_

_I can't hear you!_

_What can I do for you?_

_What can I do for you?_

_What can I do for you?_

_I can't hear you!_

_I can't hear you!_" As the song ended, the crowd burst out in cheers and applause. The girls on the stage squealed happily jumping up and down on the stage, huddled together.

Vincent Valentine settled himself at the top of a skyscraper opposite the other one. The voices he heard next brought conversation at the stage to a low murmur.

"We're almost there." Thorn. "Everyone should be right around this corner."

"What's wrong, Tidus?" The man speaking was clad in dark armor, completely concealing his face.

"I know that voice, I just… can't place a finger on it…" The blond in the yellow shirt must have been Tidus. Vincent gave a bare smile—the singer would be overjoyed.

Then, he saw a familiar spiky blond head.

"Say, Cloud," Tidus was walking backwards, stopping when he saw that Thorn had halted as well, "you know what I think's around that corner?"

Cloud shook his head slightly—just as disinterested as always…

"I think it's a bunch of girls—one for each of the five of us," Tidus leaned back slightly, his arms behind his head. "You know, someone we all left behind to fight out here…"

He gave it a second to soak in.

"Ah, come on!" Tidus dropped his head, his arms dangling in front of him in disappointment. "Do you even have any emotions, 'emo-looking blond'!?"

There was a short pause, Vincent trying not to snicker slightly over Tidus' use of the description he had given Thorn.

"Don't call me that." Tidus looked about to fall over at Cloud's monotone comment.

The group around the stage began to stir. The reunion had come.


End file.
